Gymnastics , The 2001 artistic gymnastics world championships were held in Ghent, Belg., on October 27–November 4. The Belarus men’s team won its first world championship title with a score of 169.622, rounding out its collection of medals, which included a team silver medal in 1997 and a team bronze in 1999. The U.S. earned its first men’s team medal since 1979, winning the silver; Ukraine took the bronze. China’s 16-year-old Feng Jing, competing in his first world championship event, won the all-around title with a score of 56.211. Belarusian Ivan Ivankov, a two-time world and European all-around champion, had to settle for the silver, followed by Bulgaria’s Jordan Jovtchev with the bronze.

Jovtchev and Romania’s Marian Dragulescu tied for the gold medal on the floor exercise with a pair of 9.550 scores. Dragulescu also won gold on the vault (9.668), and Jovtchev secured the title on the still rings (9.775). Marius Urzica, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist, repeated his success on the pommel horse (9.800). U.S. national champion Sean Townsend claimed top honours on the parallel bars (9.70). Vlasios Maras of Greece won gold on the horizontal bar (9.737) in his first world championship.

On the women’s side, Romania, with a score of 110.209, won its sixth team title, followed by Russia and the U.S. Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina, the 1997 world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, won yet another all-around title at the 2001 worlds, scoring 37.617. Her teammate Nataliya Ziganshina took second. Romania’s Andreea Raducan—who was initially declared the all-around gold medalist at the 2000 Olympic Games but then was disqualified for having a positive drug test—finished third in Ghent.

Khorkina went on to win two individual events in addition to the all-around title, scoring a 9.412 on the vault and a 9.437 on the uneven bars. Raducan grabbed the gold medals on the balance beam and the floor exercise, with scores of 9.662 and 9.550, respectively.

The rhythmic world championships took place on October 18–21 in Madrid. Former Soviet countries earned all three team medals. Russia dominated the team competition, scoring 275.900, more than 16 points over its nearest competitor, Ukraine, which claimed the silver. Belarus captured the bronze. Russia’s Alina Kabayeva won her second world all-around title, with a score of 113.025, followed by her teammate Irina Chashina and Ukraine’s Tamara Yerofeeva.